Tentacle-Free Anime: "RWBY" Vol. 2 (2014) Review

Some of you, maybe a few of you... eh, probably one of you AT LEAST, may have heard of the little show that was called RWBY – we even covered season 1 back in the day - an American-made “anime” created by the little company that could: Rooster Teeth. With season 3 having just came to an end over the weekend, I figured it would be a good time to revisit season 2 and see how well it holds up after two years.

Summary:The story takes place in the world of Remnant, which is filled with supernatural forces and shadowy creatures known as the "Creatures of Grimm". Prior to the events of the series, mankind waged a battle of survival against the Grimm before discovering the power of a mysterious element called Dust, which allowed them to fight back against the monsters. In the present day, Dust is used to power magical abilities and weapons. Those who use these abilities to battle the Grimm are known as Huntsmen or Huntresses. The series focuses on four girls, each with her own unique weapon and powers. Together, they form team RWBY at Beacon Academy in the city of Vale, where they are trained to become Huntresses alongside team CRDL (pronounced 'Cardinal') and team JNPR (pronounced 'Juniper'). [RWBY Wikipedia Page]​​

I was hoping to review this season back when it first ended, but life got in the way. And I was hoping to review it again when Monty Oum died for the sake of remembering a great achiever in our community. Alas, again, life sucks for all of us. I was not going to let this new opportunity pass me by, however, with season 3 having just come to an end I figured it would be a great chance to take a look back on season 2 and see how well it holds up now after all this time.

Volume 2 poster

Season 2 takes place as the second semester of the first year begins for Ruby and her teammates. The tournament teased at the end of season 1 is still a way's away so instead of getting that, we get to meet some of the fellow hunters and huntresses that have come to Beacon to study while preparing for the tournament. It's not what I would've preferred this season to do, especially since it doesn't make much sense to me that students from the other 3 Kingdoms would come to school at Beacon for an entire semester to prepare for the tournament.

But I digress.

In my review of season 1 I explained that one of my least favorite aspects of the show was that the background characters are all black silhouettes with shape, but no form to them. Nothing to actually place our characters in a world surrounded by living entities that isn't anyone important.

Of course it's due to budget and all that, however it was nice to see in season 2 that there are no more silhouettes. Even if we have to play the fun and easy game of “spot the main characters” it's genuinely nice to see everyone fully formed and fully realized in their own styles and fashions.

It gives the world of Remnant liveliness and all of our main characters an actual backdrop to work with. However for all of the new designs we get this season with silhouettes no longer being such, and even new characters being introduced, this season still feels very small in terms of how many bodies actually participate in it. Perhaps it's because many of the main “side” characters from season 1 actually become background characters for most of this season, or because I was expecting a grand tourney instead of what we got, but this season felt very small in terms of what actually transpires. Perhaps it's just me.

What we end up with though isn't bad by any means. This season features absolutely wonderful character moments for each of our main characters. From Jaune perhaps growing out of his obsession with Weiss, to 3 out of the 4 RWBY members being questioned about why they chose to become Huntresses. There's even a great moment where Yang explains to Blake her and her sister's (Ruby) history of their separate mother's and Yang's plight to find one of them.

Our girls get a makeover for volume 2.

The stand-out moment for me though was a very small one: Ruby and her Professor are talking during a recon mission when they spot some Grimm walking in the distance not paying them any mind. This leads to an important discussion on Grimm but not before little Ruby stares at them and with a very blank face points her rifle at them and simply says “Let's kill them.” It's a telling moment and very big indicator as to what living in this world does to you; especially at Ruby's age.

Cinder also take a bigger role this season as she infiltrates the school under the guise of a student from another Kingdom. I'm rather curious to learn what her end goal is here as we get mostly set-up upon more set-up this season for the bad guy's plans. That was another thing I wasn't too fond of re-watching. Season 1 was all about introductions, and season 2 was mostly about set-up. It definitely feels like a middle chapter to things to come instead of a complete story.

We also get a wider expanse on the world's lore this season, with the full introduction of other Kingdoms as well as topics of the war that united the four Kingdoms 80 years ago, and information we get later in the season during team RWBY's recon mission. I was rather appreciative of this as I really like when we get information regarding the grander history of the world's I'm invested in. And not in large exposition scenes, but in little nods here and there, using natural character dialogue and scenes that are properly set-up for the info dump.

[Enter mysterious new badass female character]

If Rooster Teeth were to publish a book about the World of Remnant with its history and lore I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.

Season 2 doesn't see that large of a hike in animation quality however, besides there no longer being silhouettes. Watching RWBY on a 1080p TV really shows off the stiffness in the animation. I'm not sure where they blew their budget for this season, but both seasons 1 and 2 look pretty much the same in terms of quality. Movement is only fluid in the action scenes – ah, that's where they blew it – but otherwise any other action, such as simple walking, feels unnatural and straining for the characters.

But again the action scenes look great and I would expect nothing less from the great Monty Oum whose specialty was fluid, fast-paced kinetic movement. A talent he poured into all of his fight scenes in the two seasons of RWBY he was able to complete. The opening lunchroom food fight scene in particular is of note when discussing this. Because while you could point out the coincidential nature of each member of RWBY and team JNPR winding up with food that tailors to each of their special weapons to fight with, during each of those scenes the discovery of each food and the way each of them are used is simply flawless and really fun to watch.

Nora using a pole and watermelon for her hammer, Yang using turkey's for her battle gauntlets, and Ren with his leaks instead of blades. The shear fun and energy on display in this scene speaks volumes to Monty's talents as a Director and Animator and it's sad to see such a talented pioneer leave us at such a young ago.

He definitely left his mark, though. Not only does RWBY have a genuinely large following of fans, but recently in Japan the series has been localized and even dubbed in Japanese, as well as garnered an official Japanese manga adaptation that expands on the original four trailers that prequel-ed the series as whole with all new, canon, material. It's a great time to be a fan of the series, and Monty, you certainly achieved your dream of making the first officially (or nearly enough, anyways) recognized American-made “anime.” We all thank you for it.

Food Fight Championship - Turkeys vs. Leaks.

RWBY season 2 builds on the world season 1 introduced, with new characters, and plenty of great character moments that help define who each of our heroes – and villains – are. Its only big drawback is that it doesn't feel like a complete story, like season 1 did. You almost have to follow into season 3 just to see what happens next. Perhaps I'm even misremembering season 1, but it at least felt like a complete story in the end. This was definitely a middle chapter and I'm thinking it probably could have been better with just some slight tweaking.

I'll let you in on a little secret: I haven't watched season 3 yet. I'm waiting for the DVD to come out so I can watch it one big chunk. So anything I've said about season 2 is without knowing what's coming next. But it still felt like a great time to revisit this season as once that DVD of season 3 does come out definitely expect a review.

Final Score: 4 Indestructible Corgis out of 5

Have you checked out "RWBY" Vol. 2? How do you think it compared to Vol. 1? Let us know below!